This is my first post at silentpcreview as I figured I needed you guys advice on what to get. This is my first desktop build ever, but I have people that will help me put it all together. The last 7 years I have not been doing much pc gaming att all because I have been limited to laptops. I would like to have the possible for a little gaming, but this is not my biggest concern. I should be quite small, reasonably quiet and work well with everyday tasks; browsing, office, video playback. Some Virtualbox use probably.

So I will not be doing any overclocking I think, so h77 should do well. After reading online the 7750 card should work well enough for the games i intend to play(a few hours a week tops). I also value the fact that it is passive.

What I am most interested is maybe finding a good aftermarket cpu cooler. It should not be to expensive and main focus is that it is quiet. I am also thinking this could be problematic because of the small dimensions of the motherboard. Also I see that there are two 120mm fans pre-installed, but the case is quite big for an itx case so there seems to be plenty of room for moving things around. I have no plans for the moment of adding any harddrive, so this will probably also reduce sound-level.

Regarding psu I figure the g-360 will be quiet with the relatively low load of this system after reading the review on this page.

I would greatly appreciate any comment regarding cooling, fans etc and also more general about the components. I have spent quite a bit of time trying to find good components that are relatively quiet and powerful enough for my needs.

I am also considering a cheaper build with i3-2225 with the iGPU hd4000, for better linux compatability, and also less power --> less heat.I would probably still need a quiet cpu cooler though. Most likely I will end up with some kind of dualbooting though.

Well, P8H77-I means it has that off-center CPU socket location right next to PCI-E and memory slots. Considering that in Prodigy you have a lot of headroom, i can say that 1st gen Gelid Tranquillo was ok with the CPU fan blowing towards the PCI-E card on a ITX board with same CPU socket position without obstructing the PCI-E slot - RAM had to be low profile of course. Outside of that, you can of course use any other CPU cooler which fits in the stock cooler footprint, or AXP-140 (but that would be a waste of CPU cooler headroom in Prodigy).

If the budget allows for it, you could try starting with the i5-3570K and Intel HD 4000 only, no cards. I play Dota 2 and Guild Wars 2 on mine no problem (1680x1050 and 1920x1200 respectively, although I think I'll drop GW2 down too), plus many singleplayer games like Company of Heroes, the new XCOM and even Spec Ops: The Line ran okay. Would save space and depending on the figures of the 7750, probably a little power/heat too - plus you would have more CPU power to boot.

Corsair makes a low-profile set of their Vengeance budget line if you're interested in alternatives. I've only found some Value RAM Kingstons that were low profile. My personal favourite is G.Skill, no question - I've had and built for others with bad Kingston, Corsair and OCZ sets, but never a bad G.Skill.

I've done a couple mini-ITX builds with the Scythe Big Shuriken 2, but if you can fit something bigger in then by all means go for that. The Tranquillo got mentioned as a working solution here and in another thread.

Regarding fans, I wholeheartedly recommend Scythe Slip Streams if you're not satisfied with the default fans. Great adjustment range on the PWM models and whisper-quiet while pushing a good amount of air - and cost-effective to boot.

Thank you both for pointing me in the right direction. Maybe I should go for the i5 3570k so I have the option of overclocking and switch to the asus z77 deluxe even though it is a bit expensive (because of the cpu placement) and bonus features.

This is within my budget and I could probably add a graphics card later on if wanted. I were able to find the corsair vengeance low profile. But my favorite store do not carry the G. Skill brand it seems.

So the asus z77 should be the way to go and give me more alternatives to what cpu cooler I could get? It seems all the other motherboards have problems with the cpu placement on the board when fitting aftermarket coolers.

Edit:

what about the NOCTUA NH-D14. It is expensive I have to say, about 100$ in my country, but if it is worth maybe I should just get it. Also I am not sure if it will fit with my configuration.

Last edited by Delirious on Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

Mini-ITX boards are tricky to work with, that's always a given. Even with good layout design, there is only so much space, and things will always overlap.

The socket (and hence cooler) placement on the Deluxe is pretty good: http://vimeo.com/43560652. Most trouble I've had in the setups I have experience with were plugging in SATA devices, but some 90-degree sideways connectors work well. You can, however, get by with a cooler that stays within the socket footprint on any motherboard, naturally. It's up to you what you want to pay for.

I would give the HD 4000 a chance. If you don't mind dropping resolution and detail, it's amazing how well it does compared to the old Intel integrated graphics that were just horrible - and even compared to some budget cards today. The 3570K is a good CPU regardless of the iGPU, and over here at least the price gap to the slower i5 models is not that big.

This sounds good, I will go for the i5 3750k and probably the asus pz77 deluxe if this is the best choice for motherboard. RAM choice should be okay now. As far as GPU goes I will start out with the hd 4000.

So what left is to find the best CPU cooler for that exact motherboard. I will need to be able to add a video card later on if I want to so i am a bit worried about the pci-slot. I will probably keep the two standard case fans for the moment if you guys think it is enough. And I could add more later on.

In a mini-ITX case two fans should be plenty. Obviously my recommendation for a cooler would be the Big Shuriken 2, because I know it works, but you have space for a tall one and should make use of it if you can.

Take a look at the SPCR reviews; my personal favourites are the Thermalright Macho and Noctua NH-U12P, many people like the Scythe Mugen 3 as well. If the 125 x 135 mm Big Shuriken 2 fits, I'm sure you can do the math from there. Sorry I can't do it for you right now, since I'm working.

Technically any CPU cooler which doesn't protrude behind the mount system at the back could be installed in that direction, leaving the PCI-E socket alone. Of course your RAM must be bellow the cooler height - in most cases that would mean standard height RAM.

It seems like the Gelid Tranquillo is not available in my country (Norway) so this is not a good option for me unfortunately. but nice recommendation though.

I am also of the opinion that the p8z77-i is expensive, but I will have to locate another cpu cooler option that will fit on a "normal" board if I am going to choose another card. mini-itx card seems expensive in general.

I am open to other motherboard sizes and other cases if this will make for an easier, and better performance/price ratio build. The case will be on the floor so it will probably not be moved around alot at all. On the other hand a smaller case seems nice.

Thanks for the details on the RAM height, will probably make it easier to choose the right one. However the samsung RAM is not available but the others are.

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